Chapter 12

In her chapter Empowerment Just Happened:The Unexpected Expansion of Women's Organizations Irene Tinker discusses the rise of women's empowerment within the developmental sphere. Tinker connects the rise of the women's movement for social justice around the world with three important events-"the crumbling of the colonial order; the establishment of the United Nations; and the reinvigoration of the international and U.S. women's movement (271)." Tinker devotes a large portion of her concluding chapter discussing the consequences of these action.

However, the found the second portion of this chapter, in which she discusses the unintended affects of economic development on culture.

In her conclusion, Tinker points to the existence of "a global women's movement, with varied priorities and practices but united in its goal of empowering women (299)." Given the multiple definitions of empowerment and the varied "priorities and practices"t, I find it difficult to point to the existence of a "global women's movement." It might be more effective to discuss the women's movement in different countries or regions because patriarchy is not manifested the same in each country, nor are the roles of women the same.

From my previous entries, it might appear that I am very critical of this book. However, I have found it really useful in pointing to the effects of development, especially economic reform, on women, which is something that I have never thought about. At the same time, I got a sense that the author's pointed to the downsides of a universal theory but always went back to the notion of maintaining a universal. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that many of the authors are practitioners and professionals, very embedded within the current orthodoxy that they cannot look outside the notion of having a framework.